Gionnosu, the place where the first Christian missionary comes to Kagoshima

Next we were going to Gionnosu Park. Gion-no-su (祇園之洲) is a quiet inlet facing Kinko Bay. 

This is the place where Francis Xavier first set foot in Japan, on August 15, 1549.

When we are standing on an island, the majestic mount Sakurajima lies in front of us😀 I wonder thoughts Xavier had as he looked to the mountain when he first came to Japan.

The memorial plaque commemorating Xavier's landing, seen in the photograph, is a work by Louis Fransen that evokes the historic monument when he landed, and the people of this locality looked up to him in amazement😨  

Right next to it, a bronze statue of Xavier appears to be floating in the air, and tells us the history of Christian mission in Japan🗾

Shortly after arriving in Kagoshima, Xavier visited Shimazu Takahisa, the fifteenth head of the Shimazu samurai clan, and received permission to preach within a month. 

He went all the way across the ocean from Europe to Kagoshima in the Satsuma Province.